tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.comments2017-08-13T07:03:37.812+10:00Literacy, families and learningTrevor Cairneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10743409298855125040noreply@blogger.comBlogger1069125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-45863236548931880122017-06-04T08:13:15.877+10:002017-06-04T08:13:15.877+10:00Thanks so much for the article. I&#39;m doing rese...Thanks so much for the article. I&#39;m doing research on loneliness, and your article shows the important of person to person, face to face conversations.chocohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07654148267143413470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-872942701393314262017-04-16T07:11:14.425+10:002017-04-16T07:11:14.425+10:00Hi Uzma,
Thank you for reading this post. If you ...Hi Uzma,<br /><br />Thank you for reading this post. If you were to read the various comments from parents before, you will notice that others have asked this question. We live in an age when parents do expect a lot of their children so I&#39;m pleased that you are asking this question. Your child is obviously bright and may well enjoy writing. If so this isn&#39;t s problem. But pressure to write at this age, if they are not ready for it physically and intellectually, may be detrimental. Too many teachers and parents neglect the child&#39;s need to explore their world through play, experimentation and creativity. So there must be balance. See how your child is reacting and speak to the teacher, it may be all too much for him, if so, then they should slow down and leave more time for creative play, storytelling, craft, oral language etc, Best wishes, TrevorTrevor Cairneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10743409298855125040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-52213131208156854222017-04-15T02:35:37.611+10:002017-04-15T02:35:37.611+10:00Hello,
My child is 3 yrs 9 months and started pres...Hello,<br />My child is 3 yrs 9 months and started preschool 6 months ago. Since then he has learnt to recognise capital and small alphabet, numbers up to 20 and some of the Hindi alphabet. His school had capital English letters, numbers up to 10 and Hindi vowel writing last year. N in the current year, he is expected to write small letters in English, numbers from 11-20 and Hindi consonants ( around 30 of them). What I wanted to know is it healthy for such young children to be introduced to so much of writing when they are just beginning to learn their letters and writing is more scribble than being perfect lines, circles and curves which is what is being expected out of him? Uzma Hashimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17153018919710873322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-62922806112906196082017-02-04T13:26:18.840+11:002017-02-04T13:26:18.840+11:00Such a great list. It must have been a challenge t...Such a great list. It must have been a challenge to put together. I found books I&#39;ve loved recently, ones I loved reading with my kids (10 years ago) and even a few favourites from my owners childhood on it.Sandy Fussellhttp://www.sandyfussell.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-15235275680156062132016-09-28T15:31:36.741+10:002016-09-28T15:31:36.741+10:00Thanks for sharing these excellent resources for l...Thanks for sharing these excellent resources for learning about filmmaking. I like your blog. Keep it Up!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.zimainstitute.com/film-making.html" rel="nofollow">Filmmaking Institute in Mumbai</a>Pawan Kumarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15886370284156171184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-33343073793549759552016-09-21T13:35:29.445+10:002016-09-21T13:35:29.445+10:00Glad you liked the post. I was in Arizona last yea...Glad you liked the post. I was in Arizona last year, including Arizona and visited my good friends Ken &amp; Yetta Goodman. It was wonderful to sit in their back yard (you&#39;d say garden, but they simply back onto the desert and to watch the bird life, including humming birds. Arizona is one of my favourite places in the world! Trevor Cairneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10743409298855125040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-34816998342844726802016-09-21T12:59:10.401+10:002016-09-21T12:59:10.401+10:00Hi Helena, this book by Percy Trezise &amp; Dick R...Hi Helena, this book by Percy Trezise &amp; Dick Roughsey. It was published by a minor publisher in 1988 and I don&#39;t think it has been reprinted. It&#39;s not surprising that you can&#39;t get it in Australia when its not in print. That&#39;s where online sites like Amazon can help with second hand copies (NB the few new copies they have are over $100US). Trevor Trevor Cairneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10743409298855125040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-72400733277347272432016-09-21T03:45:33.687+10:002016-09-21T03:45:33.687+10:00I live in Maine during the summer and Tucson, Ariz...I live in Maine during the summer and Tucson, Arizona in winter. My bird feeder customers are different in each locality. At this time of the year I mourn leaving the bluejays, nuthatches, chickadees, downey and hairy woodpeckers. Reading this blog today about the quail reminds me of what waits at my feeders in Arizona. I think of the Great Horned Owl triplets that were almost ready to leave the nest last April and my lucky chance to see one new Gambel quail family right before leaving. These birds are truly special to observe over their life cycle. The parenting behavior you wrote about is remarkable.<br /><br />I just ordered GQ, GQ, Where Are You to share with the children I teach in Tucson. Thanks for the gift of this title and for the reminder that when one door closes another opens! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-22739286562370942042016-09-20T18:21:46.264+10:002016-09-20T18:21:46.264+10:00A fellow collegue of mine asked me about a book he...A fellow collegue of mine asked me about a book he wanted to buy for his grandchild (non-Indigenous mate too) and it was an old aboriginal story telling one called Gidja. It just bought back a rush of memories from my childhoood growing up in QLD. Having read the Rainbow Serpent and the quinkin. I been googling where I can purchase these books to pass onto the next generations but don&#39;t seem to have any luck. I found the Gidga book but its coming from USA. Come on Australia its our history where can i buy locally???<br />Helenanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-60302217657043016012016-08-17T04:48:52.596+10:002016-08-17T04:48:52.596+10:00Hi Trevor!
I found this entry really interesting a...Hi Trevor!<br />I found this entry really interesting and exciting. Wow! My friend Sandy Fussell sent me your blog link and wrote, &#39;This man really knows his stuff.&#39; I was excited to see &#39;this man&#39; was you. It&#39;s been years since we met together, I think it was at Charles Sturt University Enrichment Studies. Nowadays I am a much-published author (http://www.enterprisingwords.com.au) and about to publish my first book under my About Kids Books imprint (http://www.aboutkidsbooks.com) It&#39;s All of Us Together by my husband of 34 years, Bill Condon who you might have heard of (winner of 3 CBCA Honor Books and PM Literary Award winner). We live in Wollongong NSW. My email address is dibates@outlook.com <br />Would love to hear from you! Di!www.aboutkidsbooks.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-79273243278821070742016-07-27T23:49:14.375+10:002016-07-27T23:49:14.375+10:00One of the most important issues of writing a high...One of the most important issues of writing a high-quality course works is picking an appropriate topic. It often poses a serious problem for students as they have little experience in this matter.<br />reading response sampleshttp://www.readingresponse.net/why-our-independent-reading-response-writers/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-15806606619771740562016-07-16T22:15:36.969+10:002016-07-16T22:15:36.969+10:00Thanks for this post, I&#39;m going to try and get...Thanks for this post, I&#39;m going to try and get a few of these booksAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-41093931696151124522016-06-23T12:22:48.943+10:002016-06-23T12:22:48.943+10:00Yes, I&#39;ve heard that but the book as a work sa...Yes, I&#39;ve heard that but the book as a work says something quite different. I appreciate your perspective on this but suspect we&#39;d be rejecting a lot of literature and art if we applied the same principle uniformly.Trevor Cairneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10743409298855125040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-6990564931728164732016-06-23T08:31:46.663+10:002016-06-23T08:31:46.663+10:00Although The Sneeches fits this theme of understan...Although The Sneeches fits this theme of understanding others, I recently discovered that Dr. Seuss was a racist and no longer recommend his books. http://www.pragmaticmom.com/2016/04/dr-seuss-racist/ He&#39;s the pot calling the kettle black.PragmaticMomhttp://pragmaticmom.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-76503803043527921102016-06-14T11:49:16.486+10:002016-06-14T11:49:16.486+10:00Hi Puloma, thanks for your comment and question. I...Hi Puloma, thanks for your comment and question. If you look at the sidebar of this blog and click on the link to &#39;writing&#39; the first few posts will offer plenty of suggestions. I hope that this helps. TrevorTrevor Cairneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10743409298855125040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-45050917650830816002016-05-14T22:15:41.473+10:002016-05-14T22:15:41.473+10:00My daughter is 5 years old and still unable to rec...My daughter is 5 years old and still unable to recognize or write letters. She can write A that too after lot of coaxing. What should I do? &quot;&quot; Please guide. puloma banerjeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18401734125920209899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-84867880483044521582016-04-12T02:37:13.856+10:002016-04-12T02:37:13.856+10:00One of the most powerful ways to evoke my children...One of the most powerful ways to evoke my children’s childhood is through the books that we shared. When I turn the pages of these books (which of course I’ve kept – for my grandchildren!) memories of what my children did, said, liked or felt come flooding back. When my son started at nursery, our routine consisted of him choosing one book to be read to him before I went off to work. He chose the same book every day for the first six months! Wondering what he was still getting out of the experience after the umpteenth reading, I came to understand that the appeal was that he knew exactly what was going to happen and that reading the same book brought a comforting sense of structure to the day. Fortunately, it was a great choice – Shhh! by Sally Grindley. This clever retelling of the Jack in the Beanstalk story has a child’s-eye perspective, flaps to lift and a surprise ending. He also loved the large-format, handwritten text and unusual layout of the wonderful Babar books. However, he couldn’t bear to look at the death of Babar’s mother, we would just skip that page.<br />My elder daughter had a prodigious memory and would object strongly if anyone tried to do the same with her favourite stories. Two books that we took on a holiday when she was two and read again and again come to mind. Beatrice and Vanessa by John Yeoman, and with lively illustrations by Quentin Blake, is a tale of two friends, a sheep and a goat, who feel their lives are boring and seek adventure. In the end, their wanderlust is satisfied and they decide that home and the familiar has much to commend it. The other was Yellow and Pink by William Steig, a fantastic picture book that engages with big questions about creation and evolution in a way that is stimulating for children and adults.Cliohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15830397905839187754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-35443529151269378012016-04-08T20:48:00.987+10:002016-04-08T20:48:00.987+10:00My teenage boys are great readers, devouring a ric...My teenage boys are great readers, devouring a rich range of genres... and sharing insightful observations as a result. But I often find a pile of picture books stacked beside the reading chair... or under their beds. And if I borrow picture books for myself, from the library, they are never where I left them. I love it!katswhiskers (KatApel)http://katswhiskers.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-53928914966808707712016-03-07T21:27:51.911+11:002016-03-07T21:27:51.911+11:00Hi Joanne, the short answer is yes. This has been ...Hi Joanne, the short answer is yes. This has been the focus for a number of researchers for at least 30 years and it continues to this day.Trevor Cairneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10743409298855125040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-62107346558967318942016-03-05T09:20:14.007+11:002016-03-05T09:20:14.007+11:00It makes me wonder whether there has been similar ...It makes me wonder whether there has been similar research done about how the brain responds to screens and how the brain activity compares to the brain activity of real life experiences.Joannenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-70337273844190815662016-02-22T19:29:29.773+11:002016-02-22T19:29:29.773+11:00What a great article - a must for teachers and lib...What a great article - a must for teachers and librarians too!Fiona Ingramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12858421058191075567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-1344588510425922772016-02-22T09:33:23.163+11:002016-02-22T09:33:23.163+11:00Thanks for your comment, much appreciated. I&#39;m...Thanks for your comment, much appreciated. I&#39;m glad you found it helpful, please visit my blog again.Trevor Cairneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10743409298855125040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-14586224317556753022016-02-22T03:11:29.535+11:002016-02-22T03:11:29.535+11:00I love your blog post. It provides simple reasons...I love your blog post. It provides simple reasons and strategies for parents to read aloud with their child. As an elementary teacher, I have always tried to provide my parents with simple ways to read with their child at home. Many parents feel as if they don’t know how to or just simply choose not to. Parents don’t always realize that they are the key and can have the greatest impact on their child’s literacy, which starts at home! Your blog post conveys a message to parents that they can read to their child and it doesn’t take a lot of educator knowledge or skill. I liked the DOs and DON’Ts you included. Do relax and have fun but don’t criticize or ridicule your child. I also like that you included the five-finger technique for choosing a just right book. The information you provided about miscues will also help a parent to understand the types of errors their child might be making and the ones that they really need to focus on. If we can get the majority of parents to read with their child then we can all gain a few positive steps. It will also create a stronger family bond and a more literate student in years to come.Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17235749305022267354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-41350236668407767502016-02-19T21:53:13.895+11:002016-02-19T21:53:13.895+11:00Hi Kaitlyn, thanks for your comment and for readin...Hi Kaitlyn, thanks for your comment and for reading this post. Picture books and graphic novels are suitable for all children and hence they work well with children who have disabilities. So, I would not hesitate. One small thing to note however is that some graphic novels are very complex, so they might prove more difficult if the children have intellectual difficulties than some simple picture books. So some judgement on your part would be needed. Glad you found it helpful. Trevor Cairneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10743409298855125040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200808769555430311.post-43093446534950517022016-02-19T21:46:57.668+11:002016-02-19T21:46:57.668+11:00Thanks for your helpful comment April.Thanks for your helpful comment April.Trevor Cairneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10743409298855125040noreply@blogger.com